California church shooting: Heroic churchgoers hogtie gunman who killed 1, injured 5
ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: A deadly shooting at a California church on Sunday, May 15, left one person dead and deveral others injured. Sheriff’s deputies in Orange County responded to a report of a shooting at the Geneva Presbyterian Church on El Toro Road in Laguna Woods at around 2 pm local time, just a day after a horrific mass shooting in Buffalo. The churchgoers hogtied the suspect’s legs with an extension cord and took away his firearms. Orange County Undersheriff Jeff Hallock said that the act was that of “exceptional heroism” and it possibly presented more violence.
Authorities were able to nab the suspect after he was subdued by parishioners, who then took away his weapon. According to sheriff's deputies in Orange County, one unnamed person is in custody. A weapon they believe was used in the shooting has been obtained. "Dispatch received call of a shooting inside Geneva Presbyterian Church at 1:26 pm. Four victims have been critically wounded , one with minor injuries. All victims are adults and are enroute to the hospital. One victim is deceased at the scene," OC Sheriff wrote on Twitter. "The suspect was detained at the scene. More to follow. El Toro Road is closed between Calle Sonora and Canyon Wren, please avoid the area. We are in Unified Command with @OCFireAuthority," they added. The shooter's motive was not immediately clear.
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The body of the deceased was found at the scene and the surviving victims were taken to a hospital. According to police, at least 40 people who belong to a Taiwanese church were at the facility when the gunman opened fire. The gunman in custody is in his 60s and is of Asian descent. The investigation is now in its preliminary stages and detectives hope serial numbers on the firearms are able to help them find out more about the suspect.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said agents based in Los Angeles were assisting sheriff's investigators, and the FBI also reportedly responded. Tom Cramer, a co-executive at a network of Orange County Presbyterian churches, the Presbytery of Los Ranchos, confirmed that the violence took place during a luncheon honoring a former pastor of the Taiwanese congregation.
The church shooting comes a day after ten people were shot dead and three others wounded in a “racially motivated” mass shooting at a Buffalo supermarket on Saturday, May 14. Law enforcement identified the shooter as Payton Gendron, 18, who drove from 'hours away' in Conklin, New York, to the Tops market in Jefferson Avenue. The shooting took place in a predominantly Black neighborhood.
Dispatch received call of a shooting inside Geneva Presbyterian Church at 1:26pm. Four victims have been critically wounded , one with minor injuries. All victims are adults and are enroute to the hospital. One victim is deceased at the scene.
— OC Sheriff, CA (@OCSheriff) May 15, 2022
The suspect was detained at the scene. More to follow. El Toro Road is closed between Calle Sonora and Canyon Wren, please avoid the area. We are in Unified Command with @OCFireAuthority.
— OC Sheriff, CA (@OCSheriff) May 15, 2022
Eleven of the victims were Black and two of them were White. “We are investigating this incident as both a hate crime and a case of racially-motivated violent extremism,” said Stephen Belongia, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Buffalo field office said during a press conference. Erie County Sheriff John Garcia said, "This was pure evil. It was a straight-up racially motivated hate crime." Gendron has pleaded not guilty to the killings. The shooter reportedly scrawled the N-word on his rifle before carrying out the massacre.
Gendron is believed to have posted a white supremacist manifesto, outlining his step-by-step plan. Officials revealed that Payton Gendron claimed in a 180-page diatribe that he was 'radicalized' on the internet while he was bored during the early pandemic days, not by people he has personally met. The self-described white supremacist and anti-Semite apparently learned through his 'research' that low white birth rates around the world are a 'crisis' that 'will ultimately result in the complete racial and cultural replacement of the European people.'
In one section of the manifesto, Gendron detailed his step-by-step plans for the day of the shooting. He also wrote about the corned beef hash he would eat for breakfast. He planned how he would drive to the supermarket, wear his body armor and carry his gun. He also wrote about live-streaming the attack. Reportedly, the Buffalo massacre is the latest in a wave of mass shootings that were inspired by the Great Replacement theory, a racist theory popular among white supremacists and the far-right.